Baby, This Weight Has Got to Go: Post Pregnancy Weight Loss

Foods you'd avoid like the plague become late night obsessions. This calorie-laden food-fest is all good until you no longer carry that beautiful baby and people are unsure if you're still pregnant.

Sadly, it doesn't always get easier in the first year.

You get tired, and when you're tired, you want to eat. Often, I see people gain more weight after baby because of lack of sleep. Then, there is the challenge of maintaining separate foods for baby and mom. This can be almost impossible if there are other children around. You don't want to waste that food they barely touched, you tell yourself.

So, now what?

Your child is growing by the day and so is your lack of self-esteem. It's hard as a mom to find time to exercise, and with the financial times being what they are; it's hard to afford a diet.

Fortunately, there's good news.

You can achieve your weight loss goals! You just have to be realistic; it's a lifestyle change, not a fad. As long as you're willing to take the steps you can get your sexy back.

Just remember, it usually won't happen as quickly as you want it too.

This author's daughter is 4 and mom is still pounds shy of my goal. Dropping pounds is a feat, but it can be done.

Tip # 1: Change your attitude

I have seen people lose weight the craziest ways. It all depends on what you think.

Of course good diet and exercise is always the answer, but attitude will make or break this effort. Keep in mind this is a lifestyle change, not a trip to the spa. It won't happen overnight, and it won't be easy initially. Whatever motivates you, find it and do that

If going to the gym repulses you and you can't quit eating the unhealthiest of foods, you may not be ready. Still, this doesn't mean you can't lose weight; you'll just have to work at it. It isn't something that will happen naturally.

Our bodies hold weight because that is what they do; that is why we still exist. We have to understand our body's natural tendencies and overcome them. Our job is to make our body work efficiently and have no need for storage. Its like a hoarder, no one thinks hoarders should have all that stuff, but a hoarder won't get rid of the stuff for no reason. Give your body a reason to quit hoarding, stand up and tell our body how to be.

You have to keep a focus with every single thing you do. Before you buy that expensive exercise equipment or that tasteless diet food, find out if you're ready for the plunge.

It is a lifestyle change; not something to be taken lightly.

Guilty pleasures. What is your hardest, baddest diet habit to break?

Alcohol (contains 7 Kcals per gram) a huge diet buster

Diet food (which generally causes more eating and has only slightly less caloric intake)

Sugary drinks (depending on your poison - pop, juice or other - it adds a ton more calories)

Not sleeping enough (sleeping messes up metabolism and makes a person hungrier to stay awake)

Tip # 2: Find something you can stick to

Once you know you're ready and dedicated you can be bombarded with a plethora of diet ideas. There are more diet ideas than people to take them up.

Everyone and their mom has an idea, so make sure you do the research; some are unhealthy, some are plain bad, and some work. Each person is different so what works for your friend may not work for you and vice versa.

Most of those ideas can work because once you are dedicated, your attitude determines your aptitude. Find something that fits for you, and stick with it.

This may take a lot of trial and error, but it is well worth the effort. Once you have it you will know.

Tip # 3: Believe in yourself and don't give up!

Also, know that there will be days that feel like failure. It takes at least 4 weeks for you to notice your body changing. It takes 8 weeks for your friends. It will take 12 weeks for the rest of the world to see the change in your body.

If you give up, you may never know how close you were to success.

interesting weight loss facts

Thinking can make you fat! Brand new research, conducted at Laval University in Canada has shown that although thinking hard and concentrating doesn’t require any extra calories, it does stimulate the body to feel hungrier. So much so in fact that volunteers of the study that were asked to carry out mentally challenging tasks went on to eat 253 more calories (almost 30% more) in just one meal than those that were told to daydream.

“There really is no ‘best exercise’ for burning fat,” Brian Quebbemann, MD says “However, exercise that makes muscle work so hard that the muscle is struggling to find enough calories circulating in the bloodstream to continue performing the work will burn the most calories.” simply put, just get out there and dance!

Sugar is addictive: Research has determined that foods people like excite the same parts of the brain that are activated in drug addicts.

If you could choose between diet or exercise, diet actually has far more influence on developing your ideal lean body mass and overall health than exercise. It accounts for about 80 percent of the health benefits derived from a healthy lifestyle, but of course both are necessary for optimal health.

Be Inspired, be motivated

“It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward.” ~Old Chinese Proverb

“Every choice you make has an end result.” ~Zig Ziglar

“Little by little does the trick.” ~Aesop

“One may walk over the highest mountain one step at a time.” ~John Wanamaker

“As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

“If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” ~Unknown

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” ~Michael Jordan

“A stumble may prevent a fall.” ~English Proverb

“It’s not the mistakes in life that are important; it’s what we learn from them.” ~Donna Guthrie

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.” ~Albert Einstein

“If doubt is challenging you and you do not act, doubts will grow. Challenge the doubts with action and you will grow. Doubt and action are incompatible.” ~John Kanary

“Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.” ~Mark Victor Hansen

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